I shoot a lot of old, expired films. Many of their makes and types are widely known, but there are rolls I keep in my fridge for which data is no longer (easily) available. Browsing for each film before testing it I found myself browsing again in a few weeks to refresh my mind before shooting it. That’s how I started systemizing the information. Today I am posting here a list of ORWO materials, but the other makes will follow also.
Below information has been collected from ORWO old catalogues, books on photography from the ‘80s, internet forums and discussions. This list is not 100% complete, I will add more data as it comes to me.
For general purpose materials like NP – b&w negative panchromatic film, the index following is the sensitivity in DIN, e.g. NP-15, NP-20, NP-22. For technical materials, like FO or FU, the numbers in film designations indicate gamma value available for a given film (1 = soft, 5 = very hard) rather than sensitivity. F-type materials were available first as plates, then as sheet films from 9×12 cm to 29.7×42 cm, as well as 68 mm and 105 mm wide roll films. (source)
NC 19, 21Color negative film
| AF | Autoradiografy film |
| DC | ORWOCOLOR Cine duplicate film |
| DD | Direct duplicate film |
| DF 1 | Reversible sheet film |
| DK 3, 5 | Hard black and white orthochromatic film for reproducing line drawings and text documents |
| DN | Cine negative film for duplicates |
| DP | Cine positive film for duplicates |
| FN 52 | The new signature for FU 5 |
| FO 1, 4, 5 | Orthochromatic film for reproductions |
| FP 1 – 4 | Panchromatic film for reproductions |
| FU 1 – 3, 5 | Color blind (unsensibilized) film for reproductions |
| MA 8 | Mikro Aufnahmefilm – Black and white pan technical film for reproducing line drawings and text documents |
| NC 3 | Color negative cine film |
| NI 750 | Infra red black and white negative film |
| NK | ORWOCOLOR Negativ Kunstlicht – color negative for tungsten light |
| NO 20 | Sheet film, negative, orthochromatic |
| NO 22 | Negative orthochromatic |
| NP 10 – 27 | Negative Panchromatic – black and white panchromatic film |
| NP 2 – 7, 71 | Cine negativ film, panchromatic |
| NT 18 | Color Negativ Tageslicht – color negative film for day light |
| PC 5, 7, 9, 71 | Color cine positive film |
| PF 1, 2, 11 | Positiv Feinkornfilm – small grain color blind film for projection purposes |
| TF 6, 8 | Kine Ton Negativ Film – cine ton film |
| TO 1 | Topo sheet film |
| UD 1 | ORWOCOLOR Umkehr Kopier Film – reversible color film |
| UK | Umkehrfilm für Kunstlicht – color reversible film for tungsten light |
| UP 15 | Black and white reversible film |
| UP 3, 11, 21, 31 – 51 | Fernseh Umkehr Film – TV Reversible film |
| US 11 | Reversible special film |
| UT | Umkehrfilm für Tageslicht – color reversible film for daylight |
| UV 1, 2 | Ultraviolet sheet film |
| UX 1 | Umkehr kopier Film |
| VF 2 – 4 | Vermessungs Film – surveylance film |
| ZP 1, 2 | Astro sheet film, panchromatic |
| ZU 1, 2 | Astro sheet film, unsensibilised |
If you have data to share, please post a comment here.
5 Comments
NC – Color Negative
Thanks! And I even shoot this film nowadays…
Does anybody know what is the sensitivity of DK 5 document film
Hello Milan–
I don’t think these type of materials have ISO rating. As they were designed for document reproduction purposes they have only gamma value, e.g. “hardness”.
Of course you can play with exposure/development time to get different results. In this example, I shot DK-5 as ISO 12. Developer: 1+5, 60 min. stand at 20° C. http://analoguephotolab.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ORWO-DK-5-img011.jpg
Here is the leaflet I found in the box of this film: http://analoguephotolab.com/orwo-dk-5-leaflet/
Best regards,
Vesselin
Hi Vesselin,
Thank you very much. I have the can with 30m of DK-5 and have the opportunity to buy powder for 5l of A71 so I’ll be playing with it a lot now. The film is 40 years old so I’ll expose it at ISO 3 for the first trial.
Best regards,
Milan